Could Have Been Me
by lil-hermione-at-heart
Summary: **It Could Have Been My by Billy Ray Cyrus** Harry defeated Voldemort 2 years ago, but by the time he comes to his senses and returns to Ginny; is it too late?


Chapter One-It Could Have Been Me

Harry stumbled his way from his bedroom to the kitchen just down the hall in his flat. He opened the window to let in the owl that was tapping loudly on the window glass. The owl flew in and landed on the back of a chair near the window. Harry looked at the clock on his Muggle stove.

"6:37? What in bloody hell is an owl doing here this early?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

He walked over and took the letter off the owl's leg. He looked down at the messy hand writing and recognized it immediately. He and Ron had been writing regularly, but Ron and Hermione were the only people he would respond to, along with the occasional letter to Mrs. Weasley to let her know he was alright. Ginny had written a week after he disappeared after the battle and he responded to that one, but that was the only one. He had received many letters from her, her telling almost everything of her everyday life over the past 2 years; like she was writing to a diary.

Harry had left right after the battle, seeing as it left him scarred emotionally, mentally, and physically. He Apparated to the mountains of Bulgaria to a flat that was at the base of the mountains. Very secluded and very quiet. He told himself that he was just going to stay here until he got calmed down, but time passed a little quicker than he wanted and before he know it, 2 years had gone by.

Harry opened the latter and read it. It said:

_July 8__th__, 2004_

_Harry,_

_Hey mate, how are you? You plan on coming home? You can stay with me until you get a flat of your own, if you need to. Well, things are pretty good here. Hermione and I are dating now, after two years I finally plucked up the courage to ask her out two days ago! Well, my job is going good too! Now I have to get to work so please write back!_

_Ron_

Harry grinned in happiness for Ron. He quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.

"_The things these Muggles come up with!" _he thought to himself as he scribbled a quick response, finally making up his mind.

_Ron,_

_Hey, I'm doing great, happy you and Hermione are as well! I've made up my mind, I'm coming home! See you soon!_

_Harry_

_P.S. What's with dating the letter?_

Harry attached it to the owl's legs and opened the window for it as it flew back to Ron. He started running around the place, grabbing the little amount of possessions he had. He threw them onto the small camp bed in his room. He ran around looking for his old school trunk, finding it in the corner in the back room. He shot a spell at it, cleaning off all the dust and stuff. He dragged it to his room and threw everything into it. He grabbed his old Firebolt and attached his trunk to it. He scribbled a note to the landlord and took off, just as he planned to do over the past year and a half.

Ron was sitting on the couch reading the Daily Prophet when an owl swooped through the open window and landed on his head. His face fell as he closed his eyes.

He sighed, then yelled, "Hermione!"

She ran in with a plastic glove on one hand with a sponge firmly grasped and the other hand on her hip.

"What?" she spat. She looked up and saw the owl on his head. Her scowl instantly vanished and was replaced by a grin, clearly showing she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Ok, one second," she said, taking off her glove and setting it on the coffee table as she walked towards Ron and put her arm out.

The owl hooted then jumped onto her arm. She walked to the window and the owl hooted again then flew off into the distance.

Ron stood up and walked over to Hermione. "It's a reply from Harry!" Ron said, opening up the paper.

Hermione watched as Ron's expression went from serious to a look of joy.

"What is it?" Hermione said, frowning.

"Hermione…" Ron handed the letter to her with a huge grin plastered on his face. "He's coming home!"

Hermione squealed then jumped on Ron. He hugged her and spun around.

"Well, it's good to see someone missed me," Harry said from the doorway, where he was leaning on the frame with his arms folded, one foot balanced on its toes on the other side of his other foot, grinning. His trunk up right with his broom leaned up against it, right next to him.

Hermione squealed again then ran forward to Harry. He took a step and had just enough time to open his arms before she pounced on his, just as she had done to Ron moments before.

"It's good to see you to, 'Mione," Harry said, laughing and backing up.

"Good to see you, mate," Ron said, stepping and pulling Harry into a one-armed hug.

"You too, mate. Good to see you two finally together," Harry said, stepping back again to get a better look at his best friends of 15 years.

"Yeah, I'm just happy I got the guts to do it," Ron said.

"Yeah, me too, because I was getting sick of waiting. I was starting to believe Harry would ask me out before you would," Hermione said beaming.

The two boys chuckled. Harry grinned and watched his two best friends brighten with every moment they looked at his.

"So, dinner at mum's tonight. You wanna come and see everyone again?" Ron asked, putting an arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"Uh sure, why not?" Harry said, grinning more.

"So, what time do we have to be there?" Hermione asked.

"Six o'clock, why?" Ron responded.

"Uh, it's like five o'clock now, so Harry, you might want to shower or clean up, or something," she said as she walked over to the coffee table, grabbed the glove and sponge, and walked back into the kitchen.

"So, where is the bathroom?" Harry asked.

"Down the hall, second door on the left," Ron said, pointing to a hallway.

Harry headed that way as he heard, "Hey Herm, could you wash my pants?"

"Fine, Ronald," she said.

"Hey, could you wash mine too?" Harry said, jinxing his shirt and pants to follow Hermione.

"Sure," she said in a bored tone.

Harry continued on and walked into the bathroom, turned on the water, striped down, and got in. He leaned into the water until his head was under the water and just let it fall down his sculpt body. He stood there for a while then scrubbed up, rinsed, and got out. He dried off then wrapped the towel around his waist.

He poked his head out of the door right as Ron walked back. He grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Where did Hermione put my clothes?" he questioned.

"She folded them and set them on the chair in the living room," he answered.

"Ok thanks," Harry said as he stepped out of the bathroom and headed for the living room to collect his clothes. He walked over to the chair and right as the kitchen came into view, so did something else. More like _someone_ else.

"Oh and Harry, there's some..." Ron began, walking in and pointing towards the kitchen but stopped when he saw Harry and Ginny starring at each other.

"Uh, I'm just gonna go, uh… take a shower," Ron said, slowly walking backwards then turning around and running into the bathroom.

Harry and Ginny just continued staring at each other until Ginny broke the silence.

"Hi," she said, breaking Harry's gaze and looking down to her feet.

"Hi," he responded as he too looked down.

"When did you get here?" Ginny asked, not moving.

"About an hour ago. Ron made it kinda clear in his letter that he wrote to me 3 days ago that I was missing a lot and that I needed to come home," he said, turned around and sitting on the couch, then remembering he was only in a towel. Apparently Ginny noticed this too, seeing as she was looking him up and down intently.

"Oh, well yeah, a lot of things have changed," Ginny said, shaking her head and looking back at Harry's eyes, the ones that always seemed to cause her restlessness.

"I'm gonna go put some clothes on," he said, getting up, grabbing his clothes, and walking down the hall, looking for an empty room. He found one that looked like storage.

"Well, it'll do," he said quietly to himself as walked in and closed the door behind him.

He quickly took off his towel and put on his boxers, dark jeans, and t-shirt with a black zip-up hoodie over it. As he was changing, he saw something hanging out of a box in front of a fireplace. He walked over and pulled out the piece of cloth. He held it out in front of him and recognized it as one of the jumpers Mrs. Weasley knitted. He looked at it closer and saw a big "G" on it. He saw a card with fancy writing under it but just as he was about to grab it, there was a knock on the door.

"You ready yet?" came Ron's voice.

"Yeah," Harry said, putting down the jumper and striding to the door, pulling it open and walking into the living room.

"Ok, ready. Where did Ginny go?" he asked, looking around.

"Oh, she left saying she had to go tell the family something," Ron said, looking anywhere but at Harry.

"Ron, you go on ahead. I have to ask Harry something," Hermione said, walking over to Harry.

"Ok, see you two soon," Ron said, looking warily at Hermione.

"Ok," they responded and Ron Apparated to the Burrow.

"Harry, I have to ask you something," Hermione said, turning to him and putting her hands on his upper arms, "Don't ask why, but just answer, ok?" Hermione said, looking at Harry with worry.

Harry was slightly confused, but agreed all the same.

"Ok."

"Well, I was wondering if you still have feelings for Ginny?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah, she was one of the reasons I came home," Harry said, trying hard not to wonder why she was asking this but his mind couldn't help but think something bad had happened.

"Ok, cool," she said as she then grabbed his elbow and Apparated them to the opposite side of the lake beside the Burrow. She looked in the kitchen window and could see people scurrying around and pushing someone into the fireplace, and then green flames glowed around the inside of the house. She looked over at Harry and was relieved to see him with his back to the house, meaning he didn't see anything. She looked back at the window and saw Ron giving her thumbs up.

She looked back over at Harry, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just nervous, I guess…" he said, turning around smiling and shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Ok well, let's go," Hermione said, linking arms with him and directing him towards the Burrow. Harry chuckled, then allowed her to drag him along, eventually unlinking their arms.

Once they reached the door though, Harry froze. Hermione took another two steps before she realized that Harry wasn't beside her anymore and had stopped.

"Harry, are you alright?" she asked again.

There was laughter and loud voices coming from inside the joyful home. A smile spread across his face.

"Yeah, I'm great," he replied, still smiling.

"Alright," she said and she opened the door and stepped in.

"Hey everyone, I have a small surprise for you," she said and she looked back out the door and nodded.

Harry took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold and everyone went silent.

Mrs. Weasley popped her head out of the kitchen and the sudden noise level difference.

"What happened, what's the silence all about?" she said, and then her eyes fell on Harry, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

She laughed with joy then ran and threw her arms around him, which seemed to break the tension.

Everyone started cheering and clapping Harry on the back when he had broke free of Mrs. Weasley.

Everyone then walked into the kitchen and sat through another wonderful Weasley meal. As dinner drew into dessert, talk began to approach, starting with the infamous twins.

"So Harry, where have you been?" said one twin.

"Any girls in mind?" said the other with a sly grin.

Hermione's eyes suddenly went wide as she knew what was coming. She looked at Ginny as if to say, "Prepare for the worst!"

"Well, I've been in Bulgaria, near the mountains and as to the other question, uh…" Harry started blushing at the thought of the last one.

"Oh, looks like Harry here…"

"…still has eyes for out little GinGin," the twins said, finishing each other's sentences.

"Looks like you're in for a surprise!" said the twins together.

Harry blushed furiously as Ginny got up from the table and ran to her childhood bedroom, tears falling madly from her eyes.

Harry got up, ready to go after her, but Ron put a hand on his chest to stop him as Hermione went after her.

"I think we better go," Ron said, standing up with Harry.

Mrs. Weasley nodded understandingly and Ron walked to the door then nodded for Harry to follow him. Once they both were outside, they Apparated to Ron's flat. They went into the living room and plopped onto the couch. Ron sighed and turned to Harry.

"Harry, uh, some things have changed since you left. You see, Ginny she…" Ron said then pausing. He took a deep breath and continued slowly. "You see, Ginny is married."

Harry froze, and his heart fell into his stomach.

"She…she's what?" he asked, his speech almost failing him miserably.

"She's married, mate. They've been married for about 6 months now. They met while Ginny was living with me," he explained, looking at Harry carefully.

Harry looked at the floor, his hands on his forehead with his fingers entwined. He sighed, and Ron swore he saw a tear fall from Harry's eye.

"I think you'd like him. He's changed a lot. I think if my parents can accept him, you can," Ron said, carefully choosing his words.

"You mean I know this jerk?" Harry said, the anger evident in his voice.

"Yea, kinda," Ron said.

"Well, who is he?" Harry said, his head snapping up, level with Ron's.

"I…I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you; I think Ginny needs to talk to you about this," Ron said, seeing the green light go bright under the door of Ginny's old room_._

"Why? Why would she talk to me? She's married to someone else! She doesn't care about old Harry anymore; she's too busy with this new man! Why did no one tell me about this? Why did no one tell me she had moved on? Then I wouldn't have tried or even bothered with trying to get the courage to come back to her! Trying to get the courage to even face her again! She's why I didn't come home for 2 years; why I didn't respond to her letters! I couldn't face her! I broke down when reading her letters, or looking at her picture or anything that had anything to do with her! I was scared that the war had changed me, that the time I was apart from her before the war had changed me and that she wouldn't love me anymore! I was scared that I wasn't the _just Harry_ she fell in love with all those years ago! I was scared I had lost the one thing that showed me that love is in life making it worth living, even if it isn't perfect and learning to look past all the imperfections just so you could see the things in life that did seem perfect," Harry yelled, standing up and barging into the room.

Ginny was shocked. She had never seen Harry so angry and to be honest, she was scared.

Ron was starring wide-eyed at Harry, as though he had never seen him before.

"Harry, just calm down, mate," Ron said gently.

"Calm down? How? I just lost the one person I ever truly loved, to someone else," he said in exasperation. His face had an expression of desperation and loss. He didn't know how to handle this.

"I lost hope of you ever coming home, Harry. I gave up," came a quiet voice from the hallway.

Harry spun around and stared right into the beautiful eyes of Ginny. Her face was full of sadness and concern for him. Harry felt guilty for yelling, but was still hurt by her not telling him.

"I'm not able to handle this. Who…"

"Come on babe, what are you doing here? I thought you said went home," said a voice coming from Ginny's room and its owner walking up behind her.

Once he stepped into the light, Harry's jaw dropped.

_This day just keeps getting worse, _he thought to himself.

"What are you doing here?" Draco Malfoy snapped at Harry.

His voice snapped Harry back into reality.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY GINNY!" Harry yelled.

"What do you mean, 'your Ginny'? If you haven't noticed, we're married," he said, holding up Ginny's left hand.

Harry froze again, as if it was just hitting him.

_Ginny's gone, moved on, I've lost her, _Harry thought, feeling as though his heart was gone.

_You haven't lost me, Harry. I will always love you, it will just be from a distance, _Ginny thought to Harry.

Harry looked directly at her, looking slightly confused.

Her face was down-cast, looking away from Harry.

"Well, I guess…" Harry started, causing Ginny's head to snap up to him, almost pleadingly.

"I'm just gonna go," Harry said, turning towards the door.

"Where are you going?" came a different voice.

"I don't know," he said, not turning around, "Maybe I can get the landlord to give me my flat back," And with that, he walked out the door, not turning back once. The entire time walking, he couldn't help but think, _If I have just come home, it could have been me. _

He cursed and blamed himself for losing Ginny, but he still blamed her for giving up.

_She shouldn't have given up! She at least should have told me in one of her letters! _ he thought to himself as he Apparated back to his flat's landlord's office, asking for the flat back. As soon as he agreed, he went inside and was never seen by anyone for a very long time.

A few years later, no one had heard from Harry Potter. Not even Ron, Hermione, or even Mrs. Weasley. Not long after, there had been an attack in the area where Harry's flat was. The Muggle authorities reported that a 23 year-old male had currently moved back into a flat in the building was attacked and destroyed. Now being 25, he was described to be tall, lengthy, black hair, glasses, very toned, and a very odd scar on his forehead. They said his body was lost among the rubble of the building.

All who knew who the man with the "odd scar" was, wept for a very long time. The entire wizarding world put forth a memorial for their fallen hero; the one who freed them all. All of his friends and practical family were still mourning a few years after his death. A 28 year-old Hermione was still confused about the scene she had walked in on, but nobody wanted to talk nor think about the last time they had seen their best friend, brother, son, and lover.

Yet they still had hope that maybe, just maybe, he was still out there, still alive, and still their hero.


End file.
